Where is your CT before class begins? What is he or she doing? Using the clock on the wall, determine whenyour CT establishes order and begins class. How did she/he start their lesson? How is homework from the previous night reviewed/collected/assessed? How does your CT engage students during the opening of the lesson?
After homeroom ends, my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Hodderson, stands in the hallway near her doorway. She explained to me that between the door and the hallway is the best place to stand in between periods because it gives her the ability to keep an eye on the hallway and her classroom. She greets her students as they walk in and makes small talk with some students about their day off. After the bell rings for the first period, she makes her way to the front of the room and gathers some materials she will need for that class. She then takes attendance to herself and gives out missed work to students who were absent in the beginning of the week. Some students ask questions about the homework due today and she tells them they will go over it soon. Preparing for the morning, taking attendance, and catching students up takes around six minutes.
Mrs. Hodderson then asks students to take out their density homework, where they had calculated the density of some objects. She puts each object on the board and uses random popsicle sticks with student's names on them to pick who will write their answers on the board. Some students do not have their homework, so Mrs. Hoddernson walks around and takes down those students names. She reminds them to take down the answers because they will need to know this for the test. After the students write their answers, Mrs. Hodderson corrects wrong ones and then starts a teacher led discussion about where these objects will end up when placed in a graduated cylinder with different forms of liquid. (Vegetable oil, water, etc.) Many students are excited about this experiment and most of the class raises their hands. Mrs. Hoddernson calls on students with their hands raised, and some without, asking each student what they predict and why. As she places the objects in the graduated cylinder students respond with "awesome" and "whoah." Mrs. Hodderson then calls on students asking them to reaffirm what just happened and why. She then repeats what they had just said, raising her voice and putting emphasis on important points. She then raises a higher level question to them about how they could use this information about the objects and the oil to clean up an oil spill in the ocean. She calls on students who did not do the homework to check for understanding.
I noticed that Mrs. Hodderson has a close relationship with her students. At the beginning of class she makes it a point to ask about their days off and welcomes them back. The students joke with her and she goes along with it. She is also very organized. She has folders with each day of the week with materials given on that day, this made it quick and easy for her to catch up absent students. I also liked her idea of the random popsicle sticks with students names on them, although most students were engaged with the lesson, this kept students who were not participating as much on task. I could tell that students were excited about this lesson mainly because of the experiment that would take place. I liked the teacher led discussion about what students predicted about the objects. This got students to apply what they had just learned about density and see what they predicted in effect. The students reaction to the experiment proved how excited Mrs. Hodderson got them about something as simple as density. Mrs. Hodderson used questioning to push students to make connections of what had happened and why. She then led the students to think about how they could apply this new concepts to the real world. Not as many students were eager to answer this question, as I had noticed before. Mrs. Hodderson did not call on the first students to raise their hands, rather she put the oil over the water to show students what it would look like in the ocean. This led more students to come to conclusions and the class began to discuss what they could do. Most of the students said that they would suck the oil up with some kind of machine. Mrs. Hodderson told them that they were correct and further explained how an oil spill would be cleaned up in the ocean. I liked this discussion because students who were not able to immediately connect their activity to the real world were able to visualize an actual oil spill, which led them to make better connections.
After homeroom ends, my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Hodderson, stands in the hallway near her doorway. She explained to me that between the door and the hallway is the best place to stand in between periods because it gives her the ability to keep an eye on the hallway and her classroom. She greets her students as they walk in and makes small talk with some students about their day off. After the bell rings for the first period, she makes her way to the front of the room and gathers some materials she will need for that class. She then takes attendance to herself and gives out missed work to students who were absent in the beginning of the week. Some students ask questions about the homework due today and she tells them they will go over it soon. Preparing for the morning, taking attendance, and catching students up takes around six minutes.
Mrs. Hodderson then asks students to take out their density homework, where they had calculated the density of some objects. She puts each object on the board and uses random popsicle sticks with student's names on them to pick who will write their answers on the board. Some students do not have their homework, so Mrs. Hoddernson walks around and takes down those students names. She reminds them to take down the answers because they will need to know this for the test. After the students write their answers, Mrs. Hodderson corrects wrong ones and then starts a teacher led discussion about where these objects will end up when placed in a graduated cylinder with different forms of liquid. (Vegetable oil, water, etc.) Many students are excited about this experiment and most of the class raises their hands. Mrs. Hoddernson calls on students with their hands raised, and some without, asking each student what they predict and why. As she places the objects in the graduated cylinder students respond with "awesome" and "whoah." Mrs. Hodderson then calls on students asking them to reaffirm what just happened and why. She then repeats what they had just said, raising her voice and putting emphasis on important points. She then raises a higher level question to them about how they could use this information about the objects and the oil to clean up an oil spill in the ocean. She calls on students who did not do the homework to check for understanding.
I noticed that Mrs. Hodderson has a close relationship with her students. At the beginning of class she makes it a point to ask about their days off and welcomes them back. The students joke with her and she goes along with it. She is also very organized. She has folders with each day of the week with materials given on that day, this made it quick and easy for her to catch up absent students. I also liked her idea of the random popsicle sticks with students names on them, although most students were engaged with the lesson, this kept students who were not participating as much on task. I could tell that students were excited about this lesson mainly because of the experiment that would take place. I liked the teacher led discussion about what students predicted about the objects. This got students to apply what they had just learned about density and see what they predicted in effect. The students reaction to the experiment proved how excited Mrs. Hodderson got them about something as simple as density. Mrs. Hodderson used questioning to push students to make connections of what had happened and why. She then led the students to think about how they could apply this new concepts to the real world. Not as many students were eager to answer this question, as I had noticed before. Mrs. Hodderson did not call on the first students to raise their hands, rather she put the oil over the water to show students what it would look like in the ocean. This led more students to come to conclusions and the class began to discuss what they could do. Most of the students said that they would suck the oil up with some kind of machine. Mrs. Hodderson told them that they were correct and further explained how an oil spill would be cleaned up in the ocean. I liked this discussion because students who were not able to immediately connect their activity to the real world were able to visualize an actual oil spill, which led them to make better connections.